"This—what's going on? Such powerful binding force!"
The moment the azure spearhead entered his sight, Alfred reacted. But along with the azure glow came a powerful binding force. Alfred desperately channeled Divine Power into his right hand, only managing to raise it in front of his brow at the very last moment.
Boom!
Pale azure Divine Power burst from the spearhead. Alfred's right hand was pierced in an instant, blood flowing freely, as the spear thrust farther forward.
"Damn it, break!"
Divine Power erupted from Alfred's entire body. His long hair spilled loose, every strand crackling with electricity, and purple lightning appeared around him. The binding force abruptly weakened, and he quickly retreated.
Sss!
Purple light shimmered as Alfred shot backward. The easy composure had vanished from his face. A large, bloody hole gaped in his palm, while purple Divine Power surged to heal the wound.
"What? How is this possible? The Prefect was injured in a single exchange?" someone in the watching crowd exclaimed.
"Lord Ren's weapon seems different now, and that attack just now..."
"Lord Ren must have been hiding his true strength. To see a real Asura battle with my own eyes in this lifetime—I can die happy!"
The clamour rose from every direction. Even from a thousand miles away, the battle's power could be clearly felt. Alfred paid the spectators no mind, only fixing Ren with a grave look as he spoke.
"You hid your strength well! I never would have guessed that a Seven-Star Iceblood Fiend, famous for cultivating the Water Law for millions of years, had a strongest Divine Clone with the strength of an Asura who cultivated the Wind Law."
Alfred stopped in midair, a thousand meters from Ren. Complex emotions showed in his purple, lightning-lit eyes as he stared fixedly at him.
"It's nothing unusual to hide some of your strength. I'm sure you have your own trump cards, Prefect."
Ren held the azure spear in his right hand. Faint Azure Light gleamed in his eyes as he spoke calmly.
"You're right. I underestimated you. No wonder you dared to come straight at me!"
Alfred instantly pieced everything together. Ren had never been a battle maniac; he had only made himself out to be one to lull Alfred into lowering his guard.
After taking a deep breath, Alfred suddenly raised his hand. A two-meter-long battle blade appeared in it. The blade was pale blue, its edge gleaming with an azure-purple sharpness.
Sss!
Purple ripples spread from Alfred and the center of the space around him, reaching a hundred meters in every direction. In the blink of an eye, they formed a spherical space.
Tiny purple bolts of lightning darted back and forth inside, like a torrential storm, shrouding the purple space in a downpour of lightning.
Purple Thunder Space placed Alfred at its core and transformed Lightning Element into tiny currents that spread through the air, creating a battle space of his own.
"Now the real battle begins!"
As Alfred finished speaking, he shot upward at high speed, surging a thousand meters into the air in an instant. A vast amount of lightning gathered out of thin air, and countless electric snakes coiled together. In an instant, their dazzling light illuminated the entire sky.
The electric snakes changed direction and abruptly converged at a single point. A hundred-meter streak of lightning flashed from the edge of Alfred's battle blade.
It was a blade of lightning, carrying the boundless power of thunder as it came crashing down toward the ground. Its target was Ren.
Sss!
Ren's eyes shifted slightly, but his expression remained unchanged. Azure currents instantly coiled around him, gathering in the blink of an eye into a streak of azure light that flowed along his spear. The surrounding space rumbled.
Roar!
As Ren thrust his spear, an azure glow burst from its tip and instantly transformed into a giant azure dragon. It roared as it charged toward the countless bolts of lightning.
Boom!
The lightning blade collided with the azure dragon. A thunderous blast erupted at the point of impact, and a massive spatial rift appeared, revealing the colorful Spatial Turbulence within.
Under the impact of the two energies, the dragon rapidly shrank, and the blade's radiance began to diminish as well. After piercing through the dragon, it became a tiny lightning blade about the size of a fist and shot toward Ren. Then the azure dragon gave a low growl, and two translucent sword shadows shot from its icy-blue eyes toward Alfred.
The sword shadows sped toward Alfred at an extremely strange pace and entered Purple Thunder Space in the blink of an eye.
"Hmph!"
Alfred gave a soft snort. Countless thin threads of golden lightning appeared inside the spherical space formed by his purple Divine Power and instantly swallowed the two sword shadows.
Whoosh!
Ren raised his right arm and swept his spear. Light shimmered at the tip, and azure Divine Power stopped the purple blade of light in its tracks before it slowly faded away.
"As expected of someone who cultivates the Wind Law Profound Mysteries. Your material attacks are on par with mine." Alfred's expression shifted slightly as he pondered.
Their exchange had only been a test, and both of them still had unused trump cards. But even that single move had revealed a lot: at the very least, Ren's overall material attack was not much weaker than his own.
"If that's the case, let's see how fast you are!" A cold glint flashed in Alfred's eyes. He moved slightly, his figure blurring, then turned into an afterimage and vanished from where he stood.
"I fear no one in a contest of speed." Seeing this, Ren released his azure Divine Power in an instant and shot skyward like a streak of light.
The people outside the battlefield couldn't make out the two men's figures. They could only vaguely sense a purple streak of light and an azure one crossing paths, colliding again and again, while the space trembled from time to time.
"This Ren... How can he be so powerful?"
In the crowd, Emmanuel—a bald man dressed in red robes—looked livid, his face so dark it seemed ready to drip with water.
He had come to the battle expecting Ren to die without a doubt, and had treated it casually. But the moment Ren's Wind Divine Clone appeared, the situation changed completely. His battle with the Prefect had become an intense, evenly matched fight.
"Win or lose, for offending the Four Divine Beasts Clan, the clan will definitely kill you!" Emmanuel gritted his teeth, seething with rage. As someone who also had a Wind Divine Clone, he couldn't help feeling jealous when he saw Ren's strength. He wished he could kill Ren on the spot.
But as someone who knew his own limits, Emmanuel had the sense to change "I'll kill you" into "the clan will kill you."
Emmanuel's thoughts had no effect on the two fighting in the sky. After colliding once more, the two streaks of light quickly separated, and their figures re-formed.
"You truly are full of surprises, Ren. In that case, out of respect, I'll make sure you die beneath my strongest attack!"
Golden lightning covered Alfred's body. His purple robe crackled as if it would tear apart at any moment.
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